Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas

Right Wing Limericks

by Al Bienstock

OBAMACARE PERSUASION

The Obamacare plan is pure junk.
Grade the plan and the rollout â€“ they flunk.
So, Barack has a plan â€“
If you are a barman,
Sell it by getting young people drunk.

Washington Examiner, 12/5/13: "During today's White House Youth Summit, President Obama called on young people to do whatever then can to promote his signature health Care law â€“ including plying their customers with cheap booze. 'If you're a bartender, have A happy hour,' Obama said..."

OBAMACARE SECURITY RISK

For consumer fraud on a grand scale,
On security, their grade is Fail.
Personal info at risk?
Their response is, tsk tsk.
Obama's team should all be in jail.

The Daily Caller, 12/4/13: "A 'good-guy hacker' who probed for weaknesses in the security systems of HealthCare.gov told Fox News on Wednesday that 'no security was built into this entire infrastructure' and that citizens' personal data is at serious risk."

CAN'T KEEP YOUR PLAN, DOCS OR DRUGS

Obamacare deserves lots of "ughs."
Its developers â€“ a bunch of thugs â€“
From the start were aware
That they'd destroy healthcare.
The latest is... you can't keep your drugs.

Forbes, 12/9/13: "Simply put, many drugs may not be covered at all, and the costs patients incur by buying them with cash won't count against out of pocket caps."

INCOME REDISTRIBUTION

Leftists shout that taxes should be "fair"
And the wealthy should pay their "fair share."
But the truth libs abhor
Is that the "rich" pay more
(A fact of which we should be aware).

Left-wingers choose to misrepresent
What tax payments by the "rich" have meant.
The poorest four in ten
Pay less than nothing, when
Their net's minus nine-point-one percent.

CNS News, 12/9/13: "The top 40 percent of households by before-tax income actually paid 106.2 percent of the nation's net income taxes in 2010, according to a new study by the Congressional Budget Office. At the same time, households in the bottom 40 percent took in an average of $18,950 in what CBO called 'government transfers' in 2010. Taxpayers in the top 40 percent of households were able to pay more than 100 percent of net federal income taxes in 2010 because Americans in the bottom 10 percent actually paid negative income taxes, according to the CBO study entitled 'The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2010' ... In 2010, the lowest Quintile's average rate for the individual income tax was â€“9.2 percent and the second Income quintile's rate was â€“2.3 percent."

Politicians have long used Orwellian double-speak to hide their true intentions. The latest iteration of this trend in Pennsylvania is the Governor's, Senate's and House Democrat's insistence on including "recurring revenue" in any budget agreement. Recurring revenue sounds much [...]

Next week, one of the most important pieces of legislation to come before Congress this year will be voted on by the Senate. Itâ€™s the latest and perhaps final Republican proposal to replace Obamacare.Itâ€™s primarily the product of South Carolina [...]

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Tick, tick, tick . . .

June 19, 2012

The clock is ticking on Pennsylvania's General Assembly as the June 30th deadline for passing a new state budget, and taking action on a wide range of pressing legislative issues hangs in the balance.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick . . .

Senate GOP leadership had promised a new state budget would be done early - by June 13th Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jake Corman told the Pennsylvania Press Club last month.

As of today, the seemingly spendthrift Senate and the seemingly tightwad Governor are about $500 million apart. Considering the state budget will come in north of $27 billion. That would seem to be a bridgeable gap.

Obviously the state budget won't be done early, but it will be done on time. Which, of course, is the bare minimum you would expect from one of the most highly paid legislative bodies in the nation. Look for the final budget number to be a compromise between the Governor's proposal and the Senate's budget.

Tick, tick, tick tick . . .

Last week the House debated privatizing the state's liquor store, a move designed to move Penn's Woods out of the 19th century. Despite the GOP's lopsided majority in the lower chamber the votes apparently were not there, so the measure has been delayed.

The current system has been in place since William Penn hoisted a glass to toast his land grant from the king. If it doesn't get done within the next two weeks, look for the next king of England to be purchasing his liquor from a state store when he visits PA.

Tick, tick, tick . . .

School choice legislation? Off the radar screens. Children in Pennsylvania will continue to be assigned to a school based on their zip code rather than on the quality of the school or their individual interests.

Tick, tick . . .

Labor power reform? Despite the fact that Wisconsin - Democratic, leftist, bluest of blue states Wisconsin - did the unthinkable and did away with collective bargaining for government employees and implemented a wide range of reforms that has already resulted in a state budget surplus and lowered unemployment rate; labor power legislation is dead in the water in Pennsylvania.

Of course, when the labor unions endorse for re-election the Chairman of the House Labor Committee calling him "our man in Harrisburg," what should we expect?